A Waken 11.N

"It's done then?" I asked.

"Yeah," Aisha answered. "We're walking out now."

I pulled right.

The beam cut the air to my left. I swung the longsword in my right hand, projecting a wave of green light into the volley of missiles in my new path. The controls shook as the explosions rattled around me and Exia shot free on the other side.

"Green?" I asked.

"All clear, all clear."

The plan March laid out called for meeting south of the building once they got out. Terrible idea, unless you have escape arranged. March didn't give any details when pressed. She seemed to take the whole 'watch Tattletale for sabotage' thing really seriously.

I left the Haros to wait. The only appropriate time for surprises—other than mine—were birthdays and Christmas morning. So far nothing happened.

Waiting in another location for a signal?

Over my shoulder the fifth transport drove past the rippling bubble. Couldn't tell what was happening inside. At least I knew Bakuda could make more Vista bombs. At best Kaiser would only get Fenja and Menja back.

I found that oddly gratifying.

I didn't really know what Bakuda would do. Dinah could only handle so many questions. Either she went too far and I dealt with her, or she helped and we kept working on things.

Surprised me how much I needed another trust win.

Batting pretty good on that lately.

Shame I felt oddly unworthy of it. Murrue told me the troopers guarding Calvert volunteered. That she warned them it could be dangerous. That didn't help. We didn't tell them what was coming lest anyone start asking questions.

Serious cold water that. For someone with so many hang-ups about trust, did I deserve it? Not a pleasant question given my history.

I threw my feet forward and reversed course.

I dodged left and raised my shield. Missiles detonated against the field. Shrapnel scatted over my armor because fuck their missiles. Apparently there's some things GN fields don't block.

And where the hell is Tattletale?

I left a note to warn her. Dinah said she'd be fine so long was we warned her. I didn't want the agitating know-it-all dead…especially since several of the things I hated her for might not have been her fault.

Fucking karma.

"And you're sure she's gone?"

"Yeah. Poof. Gone. Grue doesn't even know what happened. March just said she vanished."

"Vanished how?"

"How should we know? I was stabbing the psycho-bitch so the Wards could handle stuff!"

It didn't feel good. None of it.

I did things before that got people hurt. I ignored things knowing people would get hurt. I never explicitly allowed them to be hurt before. I could have stopped the attack on the PRT, but I didn't.

I didn't have time to unpack those feelings though.

I'd own them later. Take responsibility. Deal with the fact Piggot had a fucking point on her way out the fucking door.

Light flooded the air again.

I dove, guiding Exia between a pair of trees and then throwing my feet around to shoot the other direction. The beam shot past me and a volley of lasers curved—because that fucking works somehow—to chase me. I accelerated and they crashed in a wave. Wood and dirt exploded in my wake, scarring the mountainside.

Use one attack to push us into another.

Queen crossed my path ahead. Fangs spun on her flanks, deflecting the beams before they hit the suit.

Two can play that game.

My longsword's blade opened and I fired. The chasing Dragonslayer twisted about and turned a huge sword on me. I blocked the blade with my shield and fired my pistol. The Dragonslayer darted back and another wave of curving beams separated us.

They're good at it, though.

Figured. The Dragonslayers were an old team. Almost as old as Dragon herself. Ten years is a long time to thrive in the world of capes.

"I need to deal with this," I said, bringing Exia alongside Queen. "Faultline is waiting. Give me five minutes."

"Only five?" Aisha asked.

"Five and a half tops."

'Sword' was fast. More than fast enough to keep up with a Gundam. Bipedal and about the size of the Dragon suit I saw back during the Cranial thing. It flew on a pair of thrusters on its back and—obviously—carried a huge-ass sword that had to be compensating for something.

And I have a sword almost as tall as I am.

Below, 'Ring' hovered on the thrusters in its four legs. Larger than sword, like a small hauler truck, with four stocky limbs. The suit raised its head, firing another volley of those homing lasers at us from the massive ring hovering over it.

Veda and I broke apart, splitting into two directions to divide the volley. Veda spun to avoid the larger beam fired by 'Sword'. The smaller suit gave chase to her and I glanced back.

'Wing' held its position over Dragon's suit. The pilot—Saint, I assumed—wasn't even inside. The thin man dug at Dragon's suit for something. A big shimmering field of light surrounded him, Wing, and Dragon's suit. Hadn't gotten to test its strength much.

Someone kept shooting lasers at me.

I banked hard. My pistol fired at the one missile that chased me through the turn. The rocket exploded and I threw my shield up. The last GN missile launched. Sword dodged the Fangs but the missile detonated just off its flank.

I watched the armor on the leg shift oddly.

It warped. Looked damaged, but it held. Phased armor, if I remembered right. Tough stuff. It didn't even occur to me during the battle in Boston how long Dragon's suit lasted up close with Leviathan. Longer than Astraea did, once the fucking monster got in close.

And this is what the Dragonslayers stole from her. She wasn't in the running for 'greatest tinker in the world' for nothing.

Sword chased me but its weapon fired at Queen.

I twisted about.

Exia reversed course with a sudden boom and charged Sword.

The suit swung its blade, energy projecting from the edge in a straight line. The Fangs darted in front of me and the beam deflected off the shield's green surface.

I swung the Buster Sword forward as Exia's arm moved in an uppercut.

More curving lasers appeared in the corner of my eye. I snarled. My cut ended short as I shot straight up. Queen dove down, launching the Fangs again. They spun together and fired a massive beam at Ring. A field projected up from 'Wing' and blocked the blast.

The colorful field flickered, but the particles scattered into a blast of air.

"Ineffective," Veda determined.

Well, at least we have an idea how strong that shield is.

A beam cut through the air, blocking my path. It happened every time I started moving toward Saint. Sword came at me fast only for Queen to intercept. Sword's sword and Queen's sabers clashed and I started to pull on the controls. Ring fired another volley before Exia turned more than a few degrees.

The Dragonslayers were fucking cheaters.

"They're running a prediction engine on us," I realized, dodging the beam volley by diving back closer to the ground.

"Probable," Veda agreed.

I know where Bakuda got hers. Where did they?

"Dragon?" I asked.

"No response."

If I remembered right, Dragon's reboot sequence took just under an hour to complete. She needed to go through a laundry list of checks and rechecks. All at a strictly limited processing speed.

Someone able to force a reboot would win every fight. There wouldn't be a fight really. Just a show that looked like one. The act erased her memory too. Dragon would keep losing with no knowledge of how she lost. A perfect cover.

Armsmaster is right.

I glanced down at Dragon's crashed suit.

Bigger than others I'd seen, with broad wings and a stocky neck connected to hammer shaped legs. Light on armor.

"What do you have?"

"A substantial amount," Veda answered. "The Dragonslayers are quite communicative."

"Encryption?"

"Working."

How far can I push them before they did something stupid?

"Do we have what we need?"

"More is preferable."

I took that as an alternative to yes.

I blocked the next volley of lasers with Exia's shield. Two got through. They exploded across Exia's back and shook me. I kept the suit on course and the Fangs projected shields to cover me as I escaped the rest of the volley.

Two of the Fangs exploded.

Four down including the two we lost earlier.

Twelve left.

"We don't have time to draw this out anymore."

Armsmaster was in the woods below with a team of troopers. A mountain being a mountain, scaling took awhile but they were close. They could secure Dragon's suit if we could get past the damn shield.

Now is as good a time as any.

"Last resort."

I turned Exia up. A few hundred feet behind me Queen did the same. Lasers and beams chased us, but we'd already dialed Ring's range limit and Sword's reload time. I shot down the missiles with my pistol

-02[E]/ _ system prep
-04[E]/ _ op backups
-04[E]/ _ , GN-A
-04[E]/ _ , reserves

I cut the thrust and let Exia fall.

My suit turned, falling in behind Queen.

I pushed on the pedals, propelling Exia down. The GN drive hummed at my back. Sword fired. The Fangs danced, forming a layered shield in front of us. The beam sprayed out around us. The missiles detonated in a column as we flew straight through.

-04[E]/ _ ; 113s

"Command"—I swallowed—"Burn Red."

-04[E]/ _
-04[E]/ Trans-Am

The world slammed into me like a truck.

The light from Sword's beam seemed to almost slow.

Green burst into red.

Exia blasted forward, following Queen as it cut through the beam and slammed into Sword. Veda stabbed the suit in the head with a beam saber and then cut at its arm. Sword threw itself back and the Fangs fired red light in two volleys.

I shot past them.

Pulling on the controls, the Buster sword pointed down. The targeting reticule shook as I lined up the shot.

Exia strained around me from the forces acting against it. It would hold. The neutralizers made the g-forces bearable, but only so much. My weapon swayed back and forth.

Only a second before the ground was in my face.

The reticule swung back and I fired.

The Gungnir left a visible ripple in the air. Exia's arm shot back and I used the chance to wind up my next attack. Ring fired at it, but the stake shot past before the beams even left the ring.

I drew my longsword and drove my sword through the ring as I fell.

A section of the weapon exploded. A second later the stake struck Wing's shield. The shimmering field flashed and burst. Dirt and smoke blasted into the air in a cloud. Trees snapped and rocks went flying across the mountainside.

I barely managed to get my feet under me.

The cloud of debris scattered as Exia hit the ground.

Saint huddled, his head covered and eyes staring.

I turned Exia's head toward him.

"Hi."

He flinched and I swung.

I drove the Buster sword up and through his suit's side. It felt so light. Like swinging a wiffle bat. I missed the spot I wanted but still hit the suit.

Fire and smoke spat in the air behind the blade all the same. The armor plates shimmered, as if trying to retain their shape even as I cut them.

I drew a khatar from my leg and stabbed it into the hole. My finger flicked a switch and the weapon exploded. A burning red hot hole tore into Wing's side. Armored plates exploded outward, skipping over the ground behind me.

I resisted the blast, holding Exia's position as I stabbed a beam saber into the internals.

The large suit tried to turn, but too slowly to escape. The head wheeled about, and a cannon slid out of the 'dragon's jaws'. A wing turned toward me and a shield projected in a line.

I dodged it and swung another saber through the back right leg.

When the cannon aimed I stabbed the saber into the barrel and threw myself toward the sky.

A massive laser crossed my path and I dodged right.

Right into a tree.

Fast.

Queen forced Sword back, the suit no longer able to keep pace with Veda. She attacked from the side and went for the opposite side by the time the Dragonslayer even responded.

Lost track of the fight for a moment.

Exia kept hitting trees, scouring a path through the woods. I pulled on the controls and turned Exia around. A trail of leaves and dirt followed me up into the air.

This is going to take getting used to.

Armsmaster and a line of troopers emerged from the lower slope. They advanced on Dragon's suit, Wing's shield flickering to life but failing to enclose the crash site. Armsmaster brought up his halberd and broke into a run. The troopers came in behind him, directed by Noa's hand.

I spotted the slatted wings movements and fired my longsword and pistol. The slates exploded and the straight line of light they project died before reaching Armsmaster.

Offense and defense in one. Clever. And the damn thing was still working.

Dragon builds them to last.

I took aim and fired. Wing's armor deflected the beams at first, but I kept firing until I saw the front left leg explode. Armsmaster came up right after that, swinging his halberd into the suit's chest.

I didn't see Saint.

Did he jump back in?

Armsmaster should be able to handle it either way.

"Armsmaster and the troopers have Saint," I determined. "Drive the other two off or ground them."

"Confirmed."

And we'll see what cards the Dragonslayers play.

I dodged as Ring's homing lasers turned towards me. The ring still worked apparently, even with one section twisted and burning. I twisted, moving left, right, and left again as the lasers slammed into the ground one after another.

Sword broke from Veda with a volley of missiles and turned its blade.

I didn't bother dodging.

The Fangs shot out, spinning around the weapon as it swung and fired. Explosions of red and yellow extended along its length. Then two Fangs projected beam sabers and cut into the weapon.

The controls responded too quickly. Exia moved in a flash. In the blink of an eye I was in front of Sword and swinging. The Dragonslayer recoiled in my wake, and the sword blew apart.

Sword didn't linger. It cast the weapon aside and attacked. Claws shred my second khatar and gouged into Exia's leg. I kept flying forward, swinging my sword again and cutting another section of Ring's ring.

The suit fired its thrusters and tried to pull away.

The other ring sections ignited because fuck that thing was still working.

Throwing Exia's legs forward, I thrust backwards. The lasers threw up a mountain of dirt in front of me, and I flew back toward Ring. I swung my buster sword into the stolen suit's side.

I spun around, ignoring the dizziness and the nausea.

The longsword came into my hand and I stabbed it into Ring's leg, then cut through into the next. Explosions followed, and the suit lurched to one side. The rings ignited and I ignored them.

Fangs darted to Exia's sides and back, projecting a shield that blocked the lasers. They seared the earth and shook the ground as I continued hacking away.

Sword shot down from the sky, and I raised my shield as the Fang's scattered. The suit's claws scrapped over the GN Field and kicked me. Exia rocked back. The feet were claws—naturally—and cut into my armor. Deep.

I cursed and caught the leg under Exia's arm.

Sword crashed into Ring as I spun it about. The Buster sword swung back and I drew my short sword. I stabbed it into Sword's shoulder and pulled down, ignoring the suit's attempts to break free. The Fangs covered me again as Ring fired, and I drove Sword into the ground.

Ring swung around, ejecting sections of the legs to reveal smaller legs inside.

And that just looked ridiculous.

The suit charged me with a burst of speed. Queen slammed into it from above and drove the suit into the ground. Sabers and fangs twirled and Veda cut the ring into ribbons. The weapon and three more Fangs exploded, but the suit still swung its tail at me.

I ducked back, losing hold of Sword.

Sword went on the attack, projecting small blades from its wrists.

I dodged the first thrust and ignored the second. A Fang shot into Sword's right elbow and the arm exploded before it reached me. I swung my short sword down, cutting low and severing the leg left with a shower of shimmering metal.

Sword recoiled when I hit it with its own leg.

I threw the limb back into Ring. My body slammed back into Exia as I thrust forward shield first. Sword crashed into the ground and I grabbed hold of its right arm. Pressing a foot down, I pushed and pulled, shearing the arm off.

Sword fired its thrusters to escape, and Veda slammed down into it with Queen. I turned and shot back toward Ring. I hit it with the arm and then swung the Buster sword straight down.

The explosion billowed around me and an alarm rang in my ear.

I shot backwards. Hitting Sword with my back as Ring blasted off into the sky with a sudden surge. More armor sections fell off and I realized a lot of the smoke and fire was just for show.

Literally.

I saw a smoke machine just fall out of the suit.

Cheaters.

Not that I'm one to talk.

The Dragonslayers were a good team. It showed. I could tell they'd fought together for years.

Unfortunately, none of them were a quantum processing AI able to perfectly match my movements as I made them. Read my actions. Know what attacks I intended to ignore and what moves I planned to make. Able to watch the fight in slow motion and always know exactly what to do.

Veda and I didn't need years of practice to function as a team.

In our defense, I actually built our tech. We didn't steal it from someone else to keep stealing more. So fuck the Dragonslayers.

Sword fired a volley of missiles. The Fangs fired, and the air exploded. The film fluttered in the air, reflecting light, sound, and heat right back at me. I couldn't see a thing.

Flying straight up, Exia and Queen both burst out of the chaff cloud.

Ring flew off in the distance, and fast. Sword was flying along a near parallel course. In the opposite direction of Dragon's suit.

Veda and I both burst forward, following after Ring.

We gained and I banked up. When I dove back down, Veda blocked Ring's attempt to dodge with a volley from the Fangs. The Buster sword rattled as I swung. The blade buckled, and both it and Ring exploded. Shrapnel showered me as I dove down and pulled back up. Exia's leg gave out and blew apart.

I righted myself in spite of the explosion and looked over my shoulder.

Ring spun, falling into two pieces. The front half burst apart, and a very small suit—more of a power armor than anything—spilled out. Sword caught the man before he fell too far and quickly turned away from us.

It was good enough.

Time was up anyway.

We both turned back toward Saint, the red light fading.

Back on the mountain, Armsmaster brawled with Wing.

I didn't see Saint anymore. He would have retreated into his suit if he were smart. He'd have used his chance to escape into the woods if he were really smart.

Troopers surrounded Dragon's suit, firing actual guns at Wing while Armsmaster cut through its shields with his halberd. The shimmering one, from the fight with Leviathan. Cut through the fields like butter. More of Wing's slates looked damaged and broken, a few hanging from the wings like ribbons.

Saint alone.

I checked the timer.

-04[E]/ _ ; 23s

I pushed it, feeling the strain on Exia as the forces around it started really taking their toll. We'd gotten pretty far from the crash site. Distance really starts tricking you at high speed.

Queen cracked the air behind me and sped ahead.

The shield wasn't spherical anymore. With half the slats damaged, I guessed Saint couldn't project them all around his suit. Suited us. We flew overhead and corkscrewed back down. A volley of missiles fired from the back and I swung my longsword. The missiles exploded and we both blasted through the smoke.

I went right and Veda went left, swords and sabers drawn.

Armsmaster pushed at the same moment, cutting through a shield and launching the head of his halberd. Queen hit the ground hard on one side of him and Exia on the other.

A wing fell from its perch. The legs exploded outward. The back shook and rippled as fire and smoke vented into the air and threw armored plates skyward.

Wing exploded and collapsed.

The timer hit zero.

Exia's sudden slowness and weight fell down around me. I exhaled. Not sure when I started holding it in.

I did know when I forgot Exia lost a leg. Sometime before trying to put weight on it. I threw one hand out to catch myself, craning my crippled suit around to point the longsword at Wing.

The suit didn't move.

The shields holding back the troopers broke. They advanced fast, guns aimed.

"Are you, alright?" Armsmaster queried.

Took me a moment to realize he meant me.

"Dandy," I said. I looked the crippled suit over. "Saint in there."

Armsmaster almost growled.

"Yes." He stepped forward and leveled his weapon over his shoulder. "Saint. Surrender."

"Or do not," Veda said.

Queen fared better than Exia did. I saw the strain on the suit's limbs, but Veda didn't need the support I did. Damn kinks. Trans-Am was usable without crushing my own lungs, but I needed more upgrades to make it not a complete last resort option.

Damn double-edged swords.

I didn't want anyone to notice that yet, though.

Play it cool.

I powered Exia down and opened the chest. Crawling out took some effort. My sense of balance wasn't quite right. Still, I managed to stand up straight as the wind blew my hair back. My eyes blinked behind my glasses. I modified a pair to work like Dinah's in lieu of a mask.

Right. No mask. Still getting used to that. Might make a new one anyway, just to keep my hair tied back and out of my face.

People were probably uploading video of the fight by now. The highway was in sight the entire time. Hopefully, the impression played right.

Don't fuck with Brockton Bay unless you want what the Dragonslayers got. With the Wards tackling the Undersiders, the Protectorate keeping its prisoners, and New Wave making a sudden showing…Yeah. That should scare a few assholes off.

"Peel him out," Armsmaster ordered. He reached for his hip and produced a small device. "Commander?"

"On it." Noa took the tool and pointed. Troopers moved up on either side of him and they approached Wing.

Veda drifted toward them, though the slowness hopefully looked like caution rather than a seventy-five percent drop in performance. The GN-Drives would need at least fifteen minutes to return to full power.

"The suit appears inoperable," she assessed.

"Be prepared," Armsmaster warned. "I saw the other large one shedding a substantial number of components."

"They had an actual smoke machine in it," I said.

"Fake injuries. Clever."

He turned back toward Dragon and I followed behind him.

Behind me, Exia lurched. I'd need at least two days to fix it.

Tearing Ring apart would be worth it.

Not to belabor the point, but the Dragonslayers didn't build shit. Every suit of theirs I destroyed meant one less in their possession. They'd have to steal more from Dragon, and that just gave me opportunities to hunt them down.

And I would have to hunt them down.

Exia and Queen's joints looked worn down. Friction from all the movement and acceleration. An adjustment to design later.

Too fast.

The speed threw off my balance. The way I normally moved. My timing. I'd gotten used to speed. It's like driving a car at high speed, I think. You become accustomed to it. To sudden turns. The feelings of gravity on my body. The push and pull of a Gundam around me. I knew them well, grew used to them long ago.

Trans-Am felt like my very first flight all over again.

Though…

I raised a hand and moved it back and forth.

So fast but it felt…Slower too? Weird.

Dragon's suit looked a mess. Panels lay on the ground or hung from inbuilt hinges. I couldn't help but wonder how Saint knew to open them. From the outside they weren't obvious. He only had a few minutes.

Armsmaster crouched down and started looking it over.

Azazel, Dragon called it. One of her latest suits. It looked different from the others I'd seen. Sleeker and more compact. The wings seemed more for show than anything. I couldn't quite spot how it flew.

She used phased armor. Did that reduce mass? That's how the Gundam's flew.

"Saint was looking for something," Armsmaster noted.

I stepped up and looked down at the panels around him. Haphazard, thrown about, a few parts disconnected with no apparent rhyme or reason. It didn't look that way to me.

So….

"Maybe." Pulling out my phone I tapped out a quick message. "Dragon isn't answering still."

"I'm sure she is fine."

I handed him the phone.

"Hmm. Perhaps."

He handed it back to me.

Pointed at one panel, he said, "This part here. It may have been tampered with?"

"How would Saint know to tamper with it?"

"Dragon's business interests are vast. Multiple points of entry exist."

"Or something inbuilt," I offered. Armsmaster looked over his shoulder, clearly curious. "Dragon checks over her work. Are we sure everyone who works on her tech does? She has assembly lines and factories."

We weren't talking about the suit.

Armsmaster shifted.

Yeah. He probably hadn't thought of that. To be fair, the only reason I did was because of Veda. I built a kill switch in her, out of paranoia. Richter took the cake from me on that front. We already knew about the restrictions.

What else might he have programmed into her?

Does Dragon have a kill switch?

Fuck, did Dragon have a kill switch?

I glanced back at Wing.

At the very least, Saint knew far more about her tech and operations than he should. Espionage or a hack didn't explain it. Armsmaster found a channel in her code. It went right to her core programming, and she seemed completely unaware of it.

Did Saint have a tap on that? What did it let him do?

He called himself Saint. Georgios. Dragonslayers. Saint George. The saint that slew a dragon.

Fuck.

It's obvious when you think about it.

Does he know about Veda?

"Go slowly," I suggested

"We can call Narwhal," he replied. "She can check on Dragon. Make sure she's alright."

I nodded. "You call her."

"I will. I need to check in first." Armsmaster rose to his full height. "We've cleared the road. Fenja and Menja are still secure."

"Bakuda?" I asked.

"She's chased Kaiser into the forest."

Probably without his goons. Good. If the Empire wasn't broken before, it was now. Kaiser alone a gang does not make. I'd warn Theo first chance I got. Make sure he knew to watch out for his dad.

If the old man showed up, maybe I could complete my Empire arrest collection.

"Okay," I said. "I'm goin—"

"Taylor!"

Queen's hand threw me to the ground. The hand hit the ground a moment latter, bisected by a shimmering field.

I turned as dust and dirt blasted into the air.

Queen crouched down, shielding me from debris. Fangs shot out and projected weak fields around the troopers as they stumbled back. Armsmaster remained on his feet, pointing his halberd at the Dragonslayer.

Wing burst from the ground, parts spilling off of it like they had Ring. The smaller Sword sized suit burst from the wreckage. It shot into the air and flew off in a different direction than Sword.

Saint can play possum and is smart enough not to make it super obvious where he's running to.

Good to know.

I watched him fly off.

My phone still displayed the same message I showed Armsmaster.

don't escalate

Agonizingly ironic, given an earlier warning Dragon gave me.

But we couldn't. If Saint tipped his hand to escape, or if we forced some kind of dead man switch, things could go south fast. I didn't know enough, and Armsmaster knew even less.

What would he do? Use his leverage on Dragon, or fight till the other two escaped? Getting intel was a lot easier when a Haro could just track Joe Gangster as he went about his day.

I already hated it.

Especially because I'd have to do the whole song and dance a lot now. I only had the vaguest ideas what Teacher might be planning and no real idea how he planned to do it. How I might stop it. I needed to get in the game on that front.

I hoped Dragon could help.

Teacher arranged for March somehow. I knew that for sure. The plan to break Calvert out was terrible. Clearly it wasn't intended to work, thought March did have a panache for planning from what I'd seen.

Well, it probably would have worked as long as Sovereign was there. Take her out though and the whole scheme falls apart. Lockdown the building and Hellhound couldn't spread chaos either.

The Patriots, though. I wasn't so sure. They might be a coincidence. Not hard to give someone a heads up that the Protectorate will be busy. That card plays itself.

I made sure New Wave showed up the same way. A little phone call here, an anonymous tip there, and Lafter goes off recruiting help. Easy.

Kaiser making a move? Well, duh. He had to. Long shot it may be, his reputation wouldn't last if he didn't try. The man needed his rep. He didn't have anything else left, and I happily said 'no thanks to me' at the end of that.

But how did the Dragonslayers fit in? There were four or five of them. Only Saint was known, and no one seemed to know anything about his power. Some people said he didn't have one. He had to have something though.

How did he keep the tech he stole from Dragon running?

I'd take the wins I could. The Undersiders were broken up. The Wards and PRT captured Sovereign, Hellhound, and March captured. Lafter caught Sheriff with Shielder and New Wave made a showing. Kaiser failed to get his capes back. Bakuda showed her willingness to 'play ball' to everyone. Dragon's suit at least was safe.

I stopped keeping track of how many birds that was.

For the first time since my birth, there were more heroes in my city than villains.

Let them fucking try and take it back.

Letting Saint go rubbed me in all the wrong ways, but I didn't know what he could do. If I pushed too far, would he hurt Dragon? Threaten to hurt Dragon? More than hurt? I couldn't discount the possibility of a dead man switch or something. One of those 'if I don't respond to this text once a day X happens.'

It's what I'd do and the moment he tipped that hand everything changed.

If I followed him, what else might I find?

Teacher?

Patience.

Wait for my chance to flip the table.

Only a matter of time.